Something New
by doodlingcubes
Summary: No, there was nothing easy about this. But that wasn't going to stop her. [human pets au]


**hi hey hello i've been sorta just. throwing ideas into a doc for the past few days and this came out of it so... here's some h!reuben content ft my jesse**

* * *

Easy was the last word Jesse would use here.

There was nothing easy about caring for a kid that didn't trust you. A kid that refused to utter a single word to you or anyone else, refused to eat or drink or anything in front of you so you're sure that he was getting what he needed. A kid that barely acknowledged you or spent any more time than what was necessary around you.

No, there was nothing easy about this. But that wasn't going to stop her.

She didn't even know the kid's name. He wouldn't tell her anything. She simply gave him nicknames; meil, cúmbila, buddy, hun, kiddo. He was starting to respond to them, but he still wouldn't speak to her. She almost wondered if he could.

She talked to him as often as he allowed, though she was never sure if he really listened. She would talk about anything, noting his body language and topics that made him upset. She would talk about her day, ask him about his without ever receiving an answer, talk about living on a farm or in a town, a funny thing someone she knows did one time. She noted he would flinch ever so slightly at any mention of a mother. Of an argument or fight. She also noted that she had almost gotten a glimpse of wonder in his eyes when she talked about pigs she had raised.

It was a month of this before she was startled by a sudden weight on her arm while she was reading one day, and turned to see him leaning on her. She wasn't quite sure how to react, so she simply left him there.

He fell asleep on her, and she only moved her arm to wrap it around his shoulders. Olivia woke him up with the door an hour later, and he nearly bolted back to his hiding place.

He had warmed up to Jesse, at least. That was definitely a start.

This became a somewhat common occurrence when they were home alone. He would come out and sit with her, usually dozing off after a little while, only to retreat when Olivia got home or Axel came over.

Slowly, though, he stopped taking off so quickly, and eventually stopped leaving altogether. That was a step in the right direction.

* * *

Two months after she had taken him in, he had warmed up to both Jesse and Olivia enough to eat with them, and seem engaged in their conversations with him. (He didn't participate, but that was okay.) He was still wary of Axel, usually sticking close to Jesse whenever he came over and refusing to eat anything if it was offered. Jesse would always pat his shoulder and promise him that Axel wouldn't hurt him, but he never really seemed to believe her.

Three months after taking him in, Jesse decided she didn't think he could speak. She opted to trying to teach him sign language. He seemed intrigued by the concept, practicing with her daily and getting quite good at it. But, when it came down to it, he wouldn't use his new skill to talk with her outside of their little practices. She encouraged him to, but he never did so. So, she tried giving him a little board and a marker, telling him he could write what he wanted to say on the board. He doodled a pig on it, then refused to use it.

Four months after, he finally stopped trying to hide from Axel. He wouldn't let him touch him, but he stopped clinging to Jesse unless Axel did something that bothered him. Axel quickly learned his boundaries through trial and error and a few glares and smacks from Olivia. The kid would stick by Jesse unless he couldn't for some reason, and then would stay by Olivia. There were only a couple of instances where he was next to Axel without one of them, and Axel told them after that it was really strange to talk to someone who would do nothing to respond.

Month five was the first time the kid was outside too late. It was also the first time Jesse heard him make any sort of noise with his mouth.

That first noise being a scream wasn't that comforting.

Jesse had nearly dropped the plate she was cleaning and scrambled for her sword, nearly tripping over it as she rushed out the door. Olivia wasn't far behind her, though she stopped just inside the door. Jesse almost fell down the ladder, hitting the ground a little too hard and regaining her bearings just in time to run a zombie through before it could hit the kid a second time. She could see in the dim light that he already had a cut on his cheek from the thing.

She knocked the zombie away and watched it poof into smoke before she grabbed the kid's arm and pulled him back to the ladder. She regretted that the second she let him go, as he recoiled harshly from her, throwing his arms up to cover his face.

To her, it almost looked like he was expecting an attack, and her stomach dropped.

She very gently knelt down in front of him, very slowly reached out and took his wrists as softly as she could, pulling them away from his face so she could see the damage. He looked terrified, arms tense and eyes wide, staring right at her and watching every move she made, entire body trembling. There was a cut on his cheek from the zombie, though it didn't look too bad.

What really tore at her, though, was the fact that he had tears streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry." Jesse spoke before she even registered that she wanted to. "I didn't mean to scare you like that."

He blinked, then glanced away, flinching as a tear ran over the cut and pulling his hand up to it. He stood still for a moment, then glanced at her again. Then, almost suddenly, his face scrunched up and a sob escaped his throat. Jesse hesitated only a second before gingerly pulling him into a hug.

He was slow to return it, but once he did, he held onto her tightly. She held him as tight as she dared, shushing him gently and doing her best to calm him down. He was shaking in her arms, hands gripping her shirt as he struggled to catch his breath and stop sobbing.

He managed to start to calm down after a couple of minutes. His shaking turned to trembling, which slowly faded away. His quiet sobbing slowly died away until it was simply sniffling. He pulled away, wiping at his face carefully. Jesse opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't quite find her words, so she simply shut her mouth again.

They both flinched in surprise when Olivia's boots hit the ground nearby, and Jesse looked over to see she had dug out a bow and descended the ladder. She seemed confused by what she saw, though, as she lowered her arms and stood still for a moment before approaching.

"Are you-?" Olivia cut herself off when she spotted his face. "Oh, honey, your cheek…!"

The kid sniffled and rubbed his nose with his pink sweater sleeve. (Jesse had found it for him; it was the only one close to his size, and she didn't want to risk him being cold during the early spring months. It was a bit big on him, but it would work. She has yet to see him without it.) He shrugged at her, hand finally lowering away from his face. Jesse watched him, heart aching due to her realization, and stood carefully, holding a hand out to him.

"... C'mon, _miel_. Let's get you cleaned up." He blinked at her, then at her hand, before gingerly taking it, grip tightening a bit once his hand was settled in hers. She smiled lightly, then lead him to the ladder, Olivia following closely as they ascended back into the treehouse.

They cleaned up his cut, and Olivia made him some tea while Jesse sat with him in the kitchen area and explained what to do if he were to be stuck outside again. He listened silently to her, taking the tea Olivia offered with a nod of thanks. Olivia commented that she didn't think the cut would scar, and she knew it wasn't infected, so it would be fine in a few days. The kid seemed content with that.

When it came time to sleep, he pulled Jesse along with him to his room until she understood what he wanted. She tucked him in and sat with him, reading one of the storybooks she'd found around the treehouse to him until he relaxed enough to fall asleep. She made sure he was asleep before sneaking out to go to bed herself. Olivia teased her about being a mom.

Jesse laid awake that night, her head replaying his reaction to her grabbing him over and over, occasionally repeating how he had seemed confused when she helped him patch up his cheek.

She fell asleep when she decided she wasn't going to let anything or anyone hurt him ever again.

* * *

It was six months after she took him in that he spoke to Jesse.

It was storming that night. The first thunderstorm of the summer. Jesse liked storms, even if she had been afraid of them as a kid. The lightning was intricate and amazing, and the thunder was almost comforting. The rain was soothing as it pattered against the roof.

She had fallen asleep to the rain, but was woken up two hours later by a trembling child in an oversized shirt.

She had barely registered him when lightning flashed outside, illuminating him enough that she could see him recoil from the window, hands grabbing the front of his shirt and balling it in his fists. Jesse immediately knew what the problem was and pushed herself up, patting the bed as an invitation. He hesitated for a second, then clambered up onto the bed with her. She pulled him gingerly into her lap, noting him tense slightly when she pulled him, but relaxing when she wrapped her arms around him and rested his cheek against her chest.

They sat there in silence for a minute or so. "... D'you know how to tell how far the lightning is?" He shifted, shaking his head no before laying it back against her again. "When you see lightning, you count how many seconds between it and the thunder. Every five seconds is a mile." As if on cue, a bolt of lightning flashed in the window, and the kid in her arms tensed. She gently rubbed his back, counting the seconds softly. When she reached five, thunder rolled through. "See? It's a mile away from us."

The kid shifted again. She felt him relax even further against her, sighing slightly. He seemed to find comfort in that method.

Over the next half an hour, the kid slowly began to flinch less and less each time lightning flashed and thunder rolled. Jesse would count aloud every time, and the lightning kept getting further and further away. Eventually, the lightning stopped, and the rain died down a bit. The kid in her arms was barely awake, if his slower breathing was any indication. Jesse had her eyes closed, silently listening to the rain.

"...Thank you."

Her eyes snapped open, and her gaze shot immediately to the child in her arms. He was asleep now, but she was wide awake due to the pure surprise of hearing him _speak_.

She stared at him for several seconds, just processing his words and his voice. Then, slowly, her gaze softened and her chest warmed, a smile pulling at her lips as she leaned her head back against the wall.

"...You're welcome," she whispered.

* * *

He was gone when she woke up. She wasn't sure how he had gotten up and left without waking her, but he had. She rubbed her face and slid out of bed, shuffling out into the main room.

He was sitting with Olivia in the kitchen area, the latter talking about something to do with a cat. Olivia spared a glance Jesse's way as she walked in, and tossed an apple her way as she reached the counter. Jesse easily caught it, sitting down next to the kid as she bit into it.

"Anyways, I'm pretty sure the thing was only following me because some idiot was throwing fish and hit me with one." Olivia shrugged, and Jesse noted the faint smell of seafood. "It abandoned me for an actual fish at the edge of the market, but it followed me through like half of the town, so. I'm calling it Fish."

"A cat named Fish," Jesse hummed. "Fitting, somehow."

The kid snorted, and Jesse grinned.

A couple hours later, Jesse had gotten dressed and was rummaging through a chest of crafting materials for Olivia, who was on the roof with some redstone. The kid was off in a corner, reading a book Jesse had found for him at the library. She noted it was what he spent a lot of his time doing since he got it, but he wasn't as far as she would expect with how much time he put into it.

Jesse finally retrieved the wood planks Olivia had asked for, and made her way out of the window and up onto the roof. Olivia was in the middle of it, tinkering with a repeater. She glanced up at the sound of Jesse's shoes meeting the wood of the roof.

"Thanks, Jesse." Olivia smiled at her, placing the repeater down to take the wood planks from her. "I couldn't find any of those anywhere, but didn't wanna make more because I _knew_ we had some already."

Jesse shrugged, passing the items to her. "No problem." She sat down next to her, watching as Olivia took to fiddling with the repeater again. "What are you making?"

Olivia gave a half shrug, sticking a screwdriver to the repeater. "Not really anything. I'm only up here because it's much more open than inside."

"Ah," Jesse hummed. She watched as Olivia took the base of the repeater off and fiddled with a wire for a moment before putting the base back on.

"Hey," Olivia hesitated, glancing at Jesse as she spoke, "did you ever ask the kid what his name is?"

Jesse shrugged again. "I mean… I tried to. He didn't answer me."

Olivia watched her for several seconds, Jesse growing slightly uncomfortable with each one. "So… We've been caring for this seven-year-old kid for half a year… and we don't know his name at all?"

Jesse rubbed the back of her neck and glanced away. Olivia sighed.

"Try asking him again. Maybe he's ready to tell us now that he seems to trust us okay." She went back to her repeater.

Jesse blinked, memory of the previous night rising to the front of her mind. "Oh yeah. He spoke last night."

Olivia froze, nearly dropping her screwdriver. "He did?"

Jesse nodded. "He was scared of the storm, and I helped him calm down, and right before he fell asleep, he said 'thank you.'"

Olivia stared for a moment, before a small smile pulled at her lips, and she sighed. "Oh, thank god. I was getting worried he didn't know how to talk or something."

Jesse hummed lightly. "I mean, that would just mean we teach him, if he can learn to."

Olivia shook her head with a grin. "Yeah, well… Still. I'm glad he's getting comfortable around us. Or you, at least." Jesse nodded in agreement.

* * *

It was two days later that he spoke again.

He and Jesse were walking back home from a trip to town. He had two books in his arms, and a brand new pair of shoes on his feet, as his old pair were so worn out they had holes in them. He seemed happy, though Jesse wondered what exactly was so exciting about informational picture books and shoes.

They were just inside the woods, about ten minutes from home. Jesse was watching the leaves above them as they walked, then glanced at him. He was walking contently beside her, smiling at flowers they passed or birds that flew by. Jesse smiled lightly, then stuffed her hands in her pockets casually.

"Hey, um…" He glanced at her curiously. "I know I asked this before, but you didn't ever tell me. What, uh… what's your name?"

He blinked at her, pace faltering slightly for a second before fixing itself as he glanced away without turning his head. "...Reuben."

She tried not to seem surprised that he answered, but she wasn't sure how good a job she did, as his cheeks flushed pink.

"That's a nice name. It fits you," she commented. He blinked again, then smiled slightly, turning back to the path.

"... Thanks," he mumbled.

* * *

"Reuben."

Olivia blinked at her. "What?"

"His name is Reuben," Jesse repeated. "He told me on the way home when I asked."

Olivia stared for a couple seconds. "He talked again?" Jesse nodded, and Olivia glanced back at her tools for a moment. "I hope that means he's comfortable with us. It's really hard to tell when he won't say so."

Jesse shrugged, trying and failing to stop herself from smiling at the concept.

* * *

It was over the next month, Reuben began to talk more. It started off small; he would begin to answer their questions when he could answer in only a word or two, or say hello or goodbye if one of them left or came back. Then, he began to say things without prompting. Small comments or questions, mostly.

It was around the time that they started to see EnderCon posters that Jesse realized he was talking as much as any other kid would to an extent.

He had asked her and Olivia what EnderCon was, and Jesse was halfway through her explanation when she realized he had asked them. Not only that, he had asked them in public. Something he would never do only a month or so ago. She faltered, just for a second, then continued her explanation as best as she could.

Reuben was intrigued as it was, but Olivia's offhand mention that they go every year made it turn to excitement. "Can I go too?"

Jesse and Olivia both froze, glancing at each other before looking at him again. His excitement was already beginning to falter, and Jesse could tell he either realized he spoke up and regretted it, or thought they were going to say no.

"Um…" Olivia and Jesse shared a glance again, both offering each other a shrug, before turning back to him. "I don't see why not." He perked up immediately.

And, for the first time ever, Jesse watched as he basically wouldn't _stop_ talking.

He went on asking questions and commenting on how he had never gone to something like that before and was very excited. Jesse found it rather cute, but whenever she glanced at Olivia, she looked almost embarrassed. Eventually, Olivia gently asked if they could talk about this later. Reuben agreed quickly, apologizing once before going quiet for the rest of their outing. Jesse glanced at Olivia again, noting that she kept shooting guilty glances his way.

When they got back to the treehouse, Olivia apologized and explained she was trying to focus on finding what they needed, then proceeded to answer about thirty questions about the convention for him.

Said convention wasn't for a couple of months, of course, but Reuben was incredibly excited by it nonetheless.

* * *

In the one and a half months leading up to EnderCon, Jesse learned a lot more about Reuben than she had in the seven months it had taken him to warm up to them. She learned that he was eight years old instead of seven like they had thought, and that his birthday was the sixteenth of September. She learned that he wanted to have a pig as a friend one day. She learned that he had never started school, and had taught himself to read. (Ultimately, she learned that she needed to homeschool this kid.) She learned that he really liked the color pink. She learned that he wanted to dye his hair. (She got him some dye when she went to get some of her own to refresh the red streak in her hair, and he was incredibly happy with the dark pink it resulted in.) She learned that he hadn't heard about the Order of the Stone before, which she quickly fixed.

It was about two days until EnderCon and the building competition, and they were pulling last-minute ideas together. Axel and Olivia were arguing over two ideas Jesse had barely even caught. Reuben was off to the side trying to read, though she figured he was more intrigued in what they would build, even if he couldn't help them build it.

After a while, Reuben got up, put his book on the floor by the pillow he had been sitting on, and trot over to them, eyes bright. "I had an idea."

Olivia pointedly ignored Axel's most recent point and turned to Reuben, forcing herself to relax enough to offer a smile. "What kind of idea?"

"What about, um…" He paused for a moment, trying to think of his words. "A machine that… shoots fireworks?"

The three of them paused for a moment, contemplating. Jesse saw Axel perk up from the corner of her eye.

"I like the sound of that," the burly male said, grinning widely. Reuben perked up a bit.

"I mean…" Jesse shared a glance with Olivia. "The only thing I think we'd need is fireworks, and we could just buy some tomorrow. It could be cool."

Olivia paused thoughtfully, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, it probably would be cool. And… I guess I could spend today and tomorrow figuring out the redstone behind it."

Axel folded his arms. "Sounds like it's settled. We'll build the mascot's idea."

Reuben blinked at him. "Mascot?"

Axel grinned and ruffled his hair, which caused him to squeak. "Sure! You ain't building, so why not be the team mascot? You'll be the one people remember when we win!"

" _If_ we win," Olivia muttered.

Reuben either ignored Olivia's comment, or just didn't hear it. "That sounds fun!" He smiled wide, then faltered. "How do I be a mascot, though?"

"It's easy," Axel said, getting to his feet. "You stand around and look cute while we build. Maybe do a little cheerleading or something. Nothing too hard."

Reuben thought on this for a moment, then nodded. "I can do that."

"Rad," Axel ruffled his hair again, and Reuben swatted at his hand. "Maybe I'll pull together a little costume for ya or somethin'. Then it'll _really_ sell the mascot thing." Reuben grinned wider at the idea.

"Ooh!" He hummed excitedly. Jesse couldn't help the grin pulling at her lips.

"Well, that settles that," Olivia pushed herself out of her seat. "I'm going to bed. I'm tired."

"Yeah, I'd better go too," Axel nodded. "Gotta get home before monsters start lookin' for me. I'll grab the fireworks in the morning and meet you guys here." Jesse nodded as he moved towards the trap door, opening it and sliding down. "See you guys later!"

"See you, Axel." Jesse gave a little wave, and Axel disappeared, shutting the door behind him.

With that, they all shuffled off to bed, mumbling goodnights to each other as they went.

* * *

 **AN: yaaay i finished writing somethinggg...! it's kinda clunky bc i was writing it at 3 am but... its still good. maybe ill continue this into something, we'll see.**

 **until next time!**


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